"In praise of the threefold god, I link the end with the beginning of this task in one thousand three hundred and one. The chief director and donor of the work is Arnoldus the canon, be he ever blessed. Andreas Vitelli...also Tino son of Vitale, well known under such a name, are best of treasurers. Giovanni carved it who performed no empty works. Born of Nicola, but blessed with greater science, Pisa gave him birth and endowed him with learning in visual things" (Carli, 123).

Deducing from Giovanni's previous work, he was thought to have begun the pulpit in 1297 and as noted in the inscription, finished it four years later in 1301. Vasari also quoted the inscription, saying that it took four years to build (Mondadori, 11). As the inscription also claims, the patron of this commission was the parish priest Arnoldo and the treasurers were Andrea and Tino di Vitale. The confusing part about this commission is that it was to produce one of the greatest works of art, but the church of S. Andrea was by no means one of the most important churches in Pistoia. It is not understood why this church commissioned such a great pulpit. From records of tax tithes to be paid by monasteries and churches taken from 1276-7 and 1296-7, the time Giovanni was starting the pulpit, S. Andrea is not even listed as one of the wealthiest religious institutions in Pistoia (Herlihy, 247) (pl. 1). Giovanni was working on other matters as well, for there are records stating that he was