This is a small statuette of a male figure offering devotions that was once included among the sutra tableaux in Hōryūji Temple’s Five Story Pagoda. Important scenes from Buddhist sutras are depicted with a large group of statuettes like this one on each of the four sides of the pagoda’s lowest level. Through subtle modeling that is only possible in the medium of clay, a profound impression of vivid naturalism is achieved through the gentle expression of the form and the fleshiness of the face.  
Audio guide 

The male figurine was seated squarely and his hands were crossed in front of the belly, expressed in the form of a prayer for departed souls. The body was made of clay adhered on the straw-coiled wood. This work constitutes the statue group enshrined on the first floor of five-storied pagoda in Hōryū-ji Temple, depicting the four scenes including Nirvāna.
 
Yasuo Inamoto 
Masterworks from the Nara Buddhist Sculpture Hall at the Nara National Museum. Nara National Museum, 2010, p.137, no.166.