How is the author trying to connect this story to real life? Chapter 4 of War of The Worlds by H.G Wells

One detail that is clearly shown in the sculpture but that is not evident in the poem is the fake beard that the pharaoh is wearing. Although we are not sure of the reason why pharaohs wore these, we do know that pharaohs shaved all of their facial hair, but wore fake beards, usually made out of metal. We can see this in the sculpture. However, while Shelley describes the face, including the frown and the wrinkled lip (Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read), he does not describe the pharaoh's beard.