diff --git a/Extensions/Sprite.cpp b/Extensions/Sprite.cpp
index f3d7e3e..30fe9ac 100644
--- a/Extensions/Sprite.cpp
+++ b/Extensions/Sprite.cpp
@@ -59,8 +59,6 @@ void* TFT_eSprite::createSprite(int16_t w, int16_t h, uint8_t frames)
   _iwidth  = _dwidth  = _bitwidth = w;
   _iheight = _dheight = h;
 
-  _colorMap = nullptr;
-
   this->cursor_x = 0;
   this->cursor_y = 0;
 
@@ -94,6 +92,8 @@ void* TFT_eSprite::createSprite(int16_t w, int16_t h, uint8_t frames)
     _img8_2 = _img8 + (w * h + 1);
   }
 
+  if ( (_bpp == 4) && (_colorMap == nullptr)) createPalette(default_4bit_palette);
+
   // This is to make it clear what pointer size is expected to be used
   // but casting in the user sketch is needed due to the use of void*
   if ( (_bpp == 1) && (frames > 1) )
@@ -195,7 +195,7 @@ void* TFT_eSprite::callocSprite(int16_t w, int16_t h, uint8_t frames)
 ** Description:             Set a palette for a 4-bit per pixel sprite
 *************************************************************************************x*/
 
-void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(uint16_t colorMap[], int colors)
+void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(uint16_t colorMap[], uint8_t colors)
 {
   if (_colorMap != nullptr)
   {
@@ -204,14 +204,18 @@ void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(uint16_t colorMap[], int colors)
 
   if (colorMap == nullptr)
   {
-    return; // do nothing other than clear the existing map
+    // Create a color map using the default FLASH map
+    createPalette(default_4bit_palette);
+    return;
   }
 
-  // allocate color map
+  // Allocate and clear memory for 16 color map
   _colorMap = (uint16_t *)calloc(16, sizeof(uint16_t));
-  if (colors > 16)
-    colors = 16;
-  for (auto i = 0; i < colors; i++)
+
+  if (colors > 16) colors = 16;
+  
+  // Copy map colors
+  for (uint8_t i = 0; i < colors; i++)
   {
     _colorMap[i] = colorMap[i];
   }
@@ -222,7 +226,7 @@ void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(uint16_t colorMap[], int colors)
 ** Description:             Set a palette for a 4-bit per pixel sprite
 *************************************************************************************x*/
 
-void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(const uint16_t colorMap[], int colors)
+void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(const uint16_t colorMap[], uint8_t colors)
 {
   if (_colorMap != nullptr)
   {
@@ -231,14 +235,17 @@ void TFT_eSprite::createPalette(const uint16_t colorMap[], int colors)
 
   if (colorMap == nullptr)
   {
-    return; // do nothing other than clear the existing map
+    // Create a color map using the default FLASH map
+    colorMap = default_4bit_palette;
   }
 
-  // allocate color map
+  // Allocate and clear memory for 16 color map
   _colorMap = (uint16_t *)calloc(16, sizeof(uint16_t));
-  if (colors > 16)
-    colors = 16;
-  for (auto i = 0; i < colors; i++)
+
+  if (colors > 16) colors = 16;
+
+  // Copy map colors
+  for (uint8_t i = 0; i < colors; i++)
   {
     _colorMap[i] = pgm_read_word(colorMap++);
   }
@@ -306,7 +313,7 @@ int8_t TFT_eSprite::getColorDepth(void)
 
 /***************************************************************************************
 ** Function name:           setBitmapColor
-** Description:             Set the foreground foreground and background colour
+** Description:             Set the 1bpp foreground foreground and background colour
 ***************************************************************************************/
 void TFT_eSprite::setBitmapColor(uint16_t c, uint16_t b)
 {
@@ -317,23 +324,22 @@ void TFT_eSprite::setBitmapColor(uint16_t c, uint16_t b)
 
 /***************************************************************************************
 ** Function name:           setPaletteColor
-** Description:             Set the palette color at the given index
+** Description:             Set the 4bpp palette color at the given index
 ***************************************************************************************/
 void TFT_eSprite::setPaletteColor(uint8_t index, uint16_t color)
 {
-  if (_colorMap == nullptr || index > 15)
-    return; // out of bounds
+  if (_colorMap == nullptr || index > 15) return; // out of bounds
+
   _colorMap[index] = color;
 }
 
 /***************************************************************************************
 ** Function name:           getPaletteColor
-** Description:             Return the palette color at index, or 0 (black) on error.
+** Description:             Return the palette color at 4bpp index, or 0 on error.
 ***************************************************************************************/
 uint16_t TFT_eSprite::getPaletteColor(uint8_t index)
 {
-  if (_colorMap == nullptr || index > 15)
-    return 0;
+  if (_colorMap == nullptr || index > 15) return 0; // out of bounds
 
   return _colorMap[index];
 }
@@ -395,7 +401,7 @@ int16_t TFT_eSprite::getPivotY(void)
 #define FP_SCALE 10
 bool TFT_eSprite::pushRotated(int16_t angle, int32_t transp)
 {
-  if ( !_created || _bpp == 4) return false;
+  if ( !_created) return false;
 
   // Bounding box parameters
   int16_t min_x;
@@ -413,6 +419,7 @@ bool TFT_eSprite::pushRotated(int16_t angle, int32_t transp)
   uint32_t xe = _iwidth << FP_SCALE;
   uint32_t ye = _iheight << FP_SCALE;
   uint32_t tpcolor = transp;  // convert to unsigned
+  if (_bpp == 4) tpcolor = _colorMap[transp & 0x0F];
 
   _tft->startWrite(); // Avoid transaction overhead for every tft pixel
 
@@ -461,9 +468,10 @@ bool TFT_eSprite::pushRotated(int16_t angle, int32_t transp)
 ** Function name:           pushRotated - Fast fixed point integer maths version
 ** Description:             Push a rotated copy of the Sprite to another Sprite
 *************************************************************************************x*/
+// Not compatible with 4bpp
 bool TFT_eSprite::pushRotated(TFT_eSprite *spr, int16_t angle, int32_t transp)
 {
-  if ( !_created  || _bpp == 4) return false;       // Check this Sprite is created
+  if ( !_created  || _bpp == 4) return false; // Check this Sprite is created
   if ( !spr->_created  || spr->_bpp == 4) return false;  // Ckeck destination Sprite is created
 
   // Bounding box parameters
@@ -658,12 +666,8 @@ void TFT_eSprite::pushSprite(int32_t x, int32_t y)
   }
   else if (_bpp == 4)
   {
-    if (_colorMap == nullptr) {
-      return;
-    }
     _tft->pushImage(x, y, _dwidth, _dheight, _img4, false, _colorMap);
   }
-
   else _tft->pushImage(x, y, _dwidth, _dheight, _img8, (bool)(_bpp == 8));
 }
 
diff --git a/Extensions/Sprite.h b/Extensions/Sprite.h
index 74ba6b2..489ac69 100644
--- a/Extensions/Sprite.h
+++ b/Extensions/Sprite.h
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ class TFT_eSprite : public TFT_eSPI {
            // Sketch can cast returned value to (uint16_t*) for 16 bit depth if needed
            // RAM required is:
            //  - 1 bit per pixel for 1 bit colour depth
+           //  - 1 nibble per pixel for 4 bit colour
            //  - 1 byte per pixel for 8 bit colour
            //  - 2 bytes per pixel for 16 bit color depth
   ~TFT_eSprite(void);
@@ -34,8 +35,8 @@ class TFT_eSprite : public TFT_eSPI {
   int8_t   getColorDepth(void);
 
            // Set the palette for a 4 bit depth sprite.  Only the first 16 colours in the map are used.
-  void     createPalette(uint16_t *palette, int colors = 16);       // Palette in RAM
-  void     createPalette(const uint16_t *palette, int colors = 16); // Palette in FLASH
+  void     createPalette(uint16_t *palette = nullptr, uint8_t colors = 16);       // Palette in RAM
+  void     createPalette(const uint16_t *palette = nullptr, uint8_t colors = 16); // Palette in FLASH
 
            // Set a single palette index to the given color
   void     setPaletteColor(uint8_t index, uint16_t color);
diff --git a/examples/Sprite/Rotated_Sprite_1/Rotated_Sprite_1.ino b/examples/Sprite/Rotated_Sprite_1/Rotated_Sprite_1.ino
index b789b50..5bc3ffe 100644
--- a/examples/Sprite/Rotated_Sprite_1/Rotated_Sprite_1.ino
+++ b/examples/Sprite/Rotated_Sprite_1/Rotated_Sprite_1.ino
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@
 // screen very simple. The rotation is clockwise with increasing angle. The angle is in
 // degrees, an angle of 0 means no Sprite rotation.
 
-// The pushRotated() function works with 1, 8 and 16 bit per pixel (bpp) Sprites.
+// The pushRotated() function works with 1, 4, 8 and 16 bit per pixel (bpp) Sprites.
 
 // The original Sprite is unchanged so can be plotted again at a different angle.
 
@@ -20,6 +20,10 @@
 // For 1 bpp Sprites the foreground and background colours are defined with the
 // function spr.setBitmapColor(foregroundColor, backgroundColor).
 
+// For 4 bpp Sprites the colour map index is used instead of the 16 bit colour
+// e.g. spr.setTextColor(5); // Green text in default colour map
+// See "Transparent_Sprite_Demo_4bit" example for default colour map details
+
 // Created by Bodmer 6/1/19 as an example to the TFT_eSPI library:
 // https://github.com/Bodmer/TFT_eSPI
 
@@ -46,7 +50,7 @@ void setup()   {
 
 void loop() {
   
-  int xw = tft.width()/2;   // xw, yh is midle of screen
+  int xw = tft.width()/2;   // xw, yh is middle of screen
   int yh = tft.height()/2;
 
 
diff --git a/examples/Sprite/Sprite_draw_4bit/Sprite_draw_4bit.ino b/examples/Sprite/Sprite_draw_4bit/Sprite_draw_4bit.ino
index 40d9fc1..ca3ebe4 100644
--- a/examples/Sprite/Sprite_draw_4bit/Sprite_draw_4bit.ino
+++ b/examples/Sprite/Sprite_draw_4bit/Sprite_draw_4bit.ino
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ void loop(void)
   // Pass the palette to the Sprite class
   spr.createPalette(cmap);
 
-  // Push Sprite parially off-screen to test cropping
+  // Push Sprite partially off-screen to test cropping
   spr.pushSprite(-40, -40);
   spr.pushSprite(tft.width() / 2 - WIDTH / 2, tft.height() / 2 - HEIGHT / 2, 10);
   spr.pushSprite(tft.width() - WIDTH + 40, tft.height() - HEIGHT + 40);
diff --git a/library.json b/library.json
index 70efa62..a17e9ee 100644
--- a/library.json
+++ b/library.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "TFT_eSPI",
-  "version": "2.2.8",
+  "version": "2.2.9",
   "keywords": "Arduino, tft, ePaper, display, STM32, ESP8266, NodeMCU, ESP32, M5Stack, ILI9341, ST7735, ILI9163, S6D02A1, ILI9486, ST7789, RM68140",
   "description": "A TFT and ePaper SPI graphics library with optimisation for ESP8266, ESP32 and STM32",
   "repository":
diff --git a/library.properties b/library.properties
index a3b3ab4..8dd4766 100644
--- a/library.properties
+++ b/library.properties
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 name=TFT_eSPI
-version=2.2.8
+version=2.2.9
 author=Bodmer
 maintainer=Bodmer
 sentence=TFT graphics library for Arduino processors with performance optimisation for STM32, ESP8266 and ESP32