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In March 1362, the tomb of the archbishop of Pisa Giovanni Scherlatti (or Scarlatti) was ordered from Nino, to be completed in 15 months, destined for the presbytery of the cathedral of Pisa. The front of the sarcophagus (Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Pisa) is the most important artistic document for the reconstruction of Nino's maturity. The figures are raised from the bottom of the slab as if they were embossed metal appliques, with a reference to the ways of the goldsmith's art. The pain of the figures and the angels that frame them come directly to the viewer but is contained within a formal balance partly linked to the father's teaching, partly updated on the preciousness from France. The meticulous care in the surface treatment of the marble (originally completed by polychrome finishes and gilding) and the drapery rendering has few terms of comparison in the sculpture of the time.
After the fire of 1595, the Scherlatti tomb was first moved inside the cathedral and then in the nearby Camposanto. Its remains were confused with those of the tomb of Archbishop Francesco Moricotti until 1986 when the tombs were partly reassembled in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo. Of the monument remain the gisant and the front of the sarcophagus with, in three squares, from the left, the Sorrowful Madonna, Christ in Pietà, St John the Evangelist; each figure is flanked by two Angels. The relevance to the tomb of the two statuettes of St Peter and St Paul today exhibited to the sides of the monument is doubtful; the contract included two images of these saints, but they had to be reliefs intended for the sides of the chest.
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